Patent Grant
11324996
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2019-047886, filed on Mar. 15, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a balance training system, a control method for the balance training system, and a control program for the balance training system.
A training apparatus for a patient with a disability in his/her leg to perform rehabilitation training is becoming widespread. For example, a training apparatus that moves a footboard with driving means in order to make a training person who performs training stand on the footboard and observe a center of gravity position, and to encourage the naming person to take a step or prevent the training person from falling is known (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-100477).
In a configuration in which a footboard moves by a small amount relative to the training apparatus, the training person basically maintains a state in which he/she stands upright with respect to a floor surface, which makes it difficult to maintain the training person's motivation due to poor changes in environment during training. When game characteristics are given to a training attempt, the greater the bodily sensation achieved in association with a game, the greater the training person is motivated to take part in the training attempt. It has been found that a configuration in which a moving carriage is provided in a balance training apparatus and the entire balance training apparatus moves while a training person is on board is effective for rehabilitation training.
However, it may sometimes be difficult for the training person to maintain a state in which the training person is standing on a boarding surface, because a movement amount of the moving carriage in such a balance training apparatus can be set as appropriate, for example, in association with the game. In particular, when the moving carriage is controlled according to how much the load's center of gravity of the training person's feet is displaced from a reference position, for example, if one foot is lifted from the boarding surface, there may be a sudden variation in the movement of the moving carriage that the training person does not expect.
The present disclosure has been made to solve such a problem. An object of the present disclosure is to provide a balance training system and the like that allow a training person having a disease in his/her balance function to perform rehabilitation training safely and effectively.
A first example aspect is a balance training system including: a moving carriage configured to be able to move on a moving surface by driving a driving unit; a detection unit configured to detect a load received from training person's feet standing on the moving carriage; a calculation unit configured to calculate a load's center of gravity of the training person's feet on a boarding surface from the load detected by the detection unit; a setting unit configured to set a stable range, the stable range being a range of the load's center of gravity, and the training person is assumed to maintain upright on the boarding surface in the range; and a control unit configured to perform safety control for ensuring safety during a training attempt for driving the driving unit to move the moving carriage when the control unit determines that the load's center of gravity has fallen outside the stable range based on a result of the calculation by the calculation unit or when the control unit predicts that the load's center of gravity is going to fall outside the stable range based on the result of the calculation by the calculation unit.
When the load's center of gravity of the training person is monitored during the training attempt to perform safety control, it is possible to effectively prevent a sudden movement variation of the moving carriage and make the training person recognize the possibility of a sudden movement variation. That is, rehabilitation training can be performed safely. Further, assuming that such safety control is performed, it is possible to make the training person move the moving carriage actively, and thus the training person can perform rehabilitation training effectively.
In the above balance training system, the setting unit may be configured to set the stable range based on the load's center of gravity calculated by the calculation unit in a calibration work performed by the training person prior to the training attempt. Since the stable range can change depending on the progress of the rehabilitation training of the training person and the training person's condition at that time, calibration may be performed prior to the training attempt.
Further, the control unit may be configured to perform deceleration control for gradually decreasing a moving speed of the moving carriage as the safety control and to perform limit speed control for limiting the moving speed of the moving carriage to less than or equal to a preset limit speed as the safety control. By incorporating such safety control as exception processing, it is possible to effectively prevent a sudden movement variation even in a case where movement control for moving the moving carriage according to the displacement amount of the load's center of gravity is usually performed. Furthermore, the control unit may be configured to perform notification control for getting attention as the safety control. When such notification is performed, the training person can recognize the possibility of a sudden movement variation and take preventive measures such as grasping the handrail.
A second example aspect is a control method for a balance training system for enabling a training person to perform balance training while standing on a moving carriage moving on a moving surface, the control method including: setting a stable range, the stable range being a range of a load's center of gravity, and the training person is assumed to maintain upright on a boarding surface of the moving carriage in the range; detecting a load received from training person's feet standing on the moving carriage; calculating the load's center of gravity of the training person's feet on the boarding surface from the load detected in the detecting; and performing safety control for ensuring safety when it is determined that the load's center of gravity has fallen outside the stable range based on a result of the calculation in the calculating or when it is predicted that the load's center of gravity is going to fall outside the stable range based on the result of the calculation in the calculating. With the balance training system controlled by such a control method, the training person can perform rehabilitation training safely, as discussed above. Further, assuming that such safety control is performed, it is possible to make the training person move the moving carriage actively, and thus the training person can perform rehabilitation training effectively.
A third example aspect is a control program for a balance training system for enabling a training person to perform balance training while standing on a moving carriage moving on a moving surface. The control program causes a computer to execute: setting a stable range, the stable range being a range of a load's center of gravity, and the training person is assumed to maintain upright on a boarding surface of the moving carriage in the range; detecting a load received from training person's feet standing on the moving carriage; calculating the load's center of gravity of the training person's feet on the boarding surface from the load detected in the detecting; and performing safety control for ensuring safety when it is determined that the load's center of gravity has fallen outside the stable range based on a result of the calculation in the calculating or when it is predicted that the load's center of gravity is going to fall outside the stable range based on the result of the calculation in the calculating. With the balance training system controlled by such a control program, the training person can perform rehabilitation training safely, as discussed above. Further, assuming that such safety control is performed, it is possible to make the training person move the moving carriage actively, and thus the training person cam perform rehabilitation training effectively.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a balance training system and the like that allow a training person having a disease in his/her balance function to perform rehabilitation training safely and effectively.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not to be considered as limiting the present disclosure.
Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described through embodiments of the disclosure, but the disclosure according to the claims is not limited to the following embodiments. Further, all of the configurations described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential as means for solving the problem.
The training apparatus 100 includes a moving carriage 110 and a frame 160. The moving carriage 110 is able to move in a front-rear direction on a moving surface that is a floor surface or the like of a rehabilitation facility. The frame 160 is provided to stand on the moving carriage 110 and prevents the training person 900 boarding the moving carriage 110 from falling. The moving carriage 110 mainly includes driving wheels 121, casters 122, a boarding plate 130, load sensors 140, and a control box 150.
The driving wheels 121 are arranged as two front wheels with respect to a traveling direction. Each driving wheel 121 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) as a driving unit, and moves the moving carriage 110 forward or backward. The casters 122 are driven wheels and are arranged as two rear wheels with respect to the traveling direction. The boarding plate 130 is a boarding unit on which the training person 900 boards and places his/her feet. A flat plate made of, for example, a polycarbonate resin with a relatively high rigidity that can withstand the boarding of the training person 900 is used as the boarding plate 130. The boarding plate 130 is supported on an upper surface of the moving carriage 110 with the load sensors 140 disposed at four corners interposed therebetween.
Each of the load sensors 140 is, for example, a load cell, and functions as a detection unit that detects a load received from the training person 900's feet standing on the moving carriage 110. The control box 150 accommodates an arithmetic processing unit and a memory, which will be described later.
The frame 160 includes an opening and closing door 161 and a handrail 162. The opening and closing door 161 is opened when the training person 900 boards the boarding plate 130 to form a passage for the training person 900. The opening and closing door 161 is closed and locked when the training person 900 performs a training attempt. The handrail 162 is provided to surround the training person 900 so that it can be grasped when the training person 900 is about to lose his/her balance or feels uneasy. Note that when the training person 900 performs a training attempt, he/she tries to maintain an upright posture by maintaining his/her balance by himself/herself without grasping the handrail 162. The frame 160 supports a display panel 170. The display panel 170 is a display unit that is, for example, a liquid crystal panel. The display panel 170 is disposed at a position where the training person 900 can easily sec during the training attempt.
An operation reception unit 220 receives input operations from the training person 900 and an operator, and transmits an operation signal to the arithmetic processing unit 200. The training person 900 or the operator operates an operation button provided on the apparatus, a touch panel superimposed on the display panel 170, an attached remote controller, or the like, which constitute the operation reception unit 220, in order to give an instruction for turning on and off the power and for starting a training attempt, to enter numerical values for setting, and to select menu items.
A display control unit 230 generates a graphic video image and the like of a task game, which will be described later, in accordance with a display signal from the arithmetic processing unit 200, and displays the graphic video image and the like on the display panel 170. The memory 240 is a non-volatile storage medium. For example, a solid state drive is used as the memory 240. The memory 240 stores a control program and so on for controlling the training apparatus 100. The memory 240 further stores various parameter values, functions, lookup tables and so on used for control. In particular, the memory 240 stores a task game 241 that is a program for giving a task in a game format so that the training person 900 can enjoy a training attempt. The load sensors 140 detect loads applied from the training person 900's feet via the boarding plate 130, and transmit detection signals to the arithmetic processing unit 200.
The arithmetic processing unit 200 also serves as a function execution unit that performs various calculations and control of individual elements in accordance with a request of the control program. A load calculation unit 201 acquires the detection signals of the four load sensors 140 and calculates a load's center of gravity of the training person 900's feet on the boarding surface. Specifically, since the respective positions of the four load sensors 140 are known, the center of gravity position is calculated from the distribution of the loads in the vertical direction detected by the respective load sensors 140, and the center of gravity position is used as the load's center of gravity. The load's center of gravity is calculated as the center of gravity position of a load distribution in this way, and thus the load's center of gravity can also be regarded as a center of foot pressure applied to the boarding surface by the training person 900's feet.
A range setting unit 202 sets a stable range that is a range of the load's center of gravity estimated that the training person 900 can maintain upright on the boarding surface. A specific setting method will be described later. A movement control unit 203 generates a driving signal to be transmitted to the driving wheel unit 210, and controls the movement of the moving carriage 110 via the driving wheel unit 210. In this embodiment, safety control for ensuring safety is performed during a training attempt in which the motor is driver, and the moving carriage 110 is moved. In this embodiment, in particular, the safety control is performed when it is determined that the load's center of gravity has fallen out of the stable range or when it is predicted that the load's center of gravity may fall out of the stable range. Details of the safety control will be described later.
The arithmetic processing unit 200 may be composed of one or more processors. The load calculation unit 201, the range setting unit 202, and the movement control unit 203 may be composed of one or more processors. Alternatively, the load calculation unit 201, the range setting unit 202, the movement control unit 203, and the display control unit 230 may be composed of one or more processors.
The range setting unit 202 fits a smooth closed curve so as to pass through each load's center of gravity CPF, CPR, CPB, and CPL calculated in this manner, and sets a range surrounded by the closed curve as a stable range LC. The stable range LC set in this way is a range in which the training person 900 is expected to be able to maintain a standing state by adjusting his/her balance while the load's center of gravity of the training person 900 is included in this range. In this embodiment, since the moving direction of the moving carriage 110 is the front-rear direction, a ΔC axis is defined along the moving direction within the two-dimensionally defined stable range LC. Along the ΔC axis, the reference position RP is defined as 0, a maximum value of the stable range LC is defined as ΔCmax, and a minimum value of the stable range LC is defined as ΔCmin. The stable range LC may be set by selecting, from a preset lookup table, a stable range corresponding to the training person 900's height, weight, foot size, a progress of rehabilitation training, etc., in addition to the stable range LC being set through a calibration work.
In this embodiment, the training person 900 is encouraged to perform training by carrying out the task game 241. The task game 241 processed by the arithmetic processing unit 200 generates a graphic video image that changes every moment and displays the graphic video image on the display panel 170, and the training person 900 is encouraged to perform a moving operation of the training apparatus 100.
On the right side of the tennis court displayed at the center of the screen, a character M throwing a tennis ball B is superimposed on a background image, and on the left side of the tennis court, a character P hitting the thrown tennis ball B back is superimposed on the background image. The character M expresses an action of moving up and down or throwing according to the task given by the task game 241. The character P is a character representing the training person 900 and expresses an action of moving up and down in accordance with the movement of the training apparatus 100 or swinging a racket in accordance with an arrival of the tennis ball B. The tennis ball B reciprocates in the left and right direction on the tennis court in accordance with the actions of the characters M and P. The game screen also includes information such as a score and elapsed time, etc. that change according to a status of the game.
As shown in
The training person 900 moves the character P to a hitting position Th where he/she can hit the tennis ball B back at Bh before the tennis ball B reaches Bh. That is, as shown in
A certain amount of time is required until the character P reaches the hitting position Th or returns to the initial position Ts, although it depends on the speed Vc of the character P. During this time, the training person 900 continues to adjust his/her balance by tilting his/her center of gravity. This balance adjustment is effective rehabilitation training for the training person 900 with a disease in the balance function. Further, since the load's center of gravity CP can be changed every moment according to the balance adjustment of the training person 900, the target speed VT of the moving carriage 110 and the speed Vc of the character P can also change. The training person 900 not only moves the character P according to his/her balance adjustment but also moves the training apparatus 109 itself, so that the training person 900 can obtain sensations that act on his/her sense of balance and sense of posture in addition to visual information, and thus the training person 900 can enjoy the training attempt. When the training person 900 can enjoy the training attempt, it can be expected that the training person 900 can actively and continuously perform training. That is, the balance function can be recovered in a shorter period.
The training person 900 who is undergoing rehabilitation training cannot necessarily adjust his/her balance during the training attempt continuously and successfully. The training person 900 may sometimes grasp the handrail 162, or changes his/her step on the boarding plate 130. In particular, since the target speed VT of the moving carriage 110 with respect to the displacement amount ΔC of the load's center of gravity CP can be appropriately set, the setting may not be appropriate for the training person 900. When the moving carriage 110 is controlled at the target speed VT that is proportional to the displacement amount ΔC without any restriction measures, when, for example, one foot is lifted from the boarding surface, there may be a sudden movement variation in the moving carriage 110 that the training person 900 does not expect. Therefore, the movement control unit 203 according to this embodiment performs safety control when the load's center of gravity CP calculated by the load calculation unit 201 falls out of the stable range LC.
The actual displacement amount along the ΔC axis with respect to the load's center of gravity CP shown in the drawing is ΔC. Further, the displacement amount with respect to a line segment connected between the reference position RP and the load's center of gravity CP intersecting with a circumference curve of the stable range LC is defined as ΔCa. The displacement amount ΔCa is employed to determine the target speed. The value of ΔCa is ΔCmin or more and ΔCmax or less, and thus the movement control unit 203 can determine the target speed VT using the relationship of
Note that the target speed VT of the moving carriage 110 may be set to be equal to or lower than an upper limit speed. The upper limit speed here may be a speed corresponding to the displacement amount ΔCa to be applied. When the load's center of gravity CP falls outside the stable range LC, it is also assumed that the training person 900 may be upset. Thus, for example, for a certain period after the load's center of gravity CP falls outside the stable range LC, a speed obtained by multiplying the speed corresponding to the displacement amount ΔCa to be applied by a coefficient of about 0.9 may be used as the target speed VT.
The arithmetic processing unit 200 proceeds to Step S103, reads the designated task game 241 from the memory 240, and starts a training attempt through the task game 241. The arithmetic processing unit 200 displays a video image in accordance with the progress of the task game 241 on the display panel 170 via the display control unit 230.
In Step S104, the load sensor 140 detects a load received from the training person 900's feet in accordance with the progress of the task game 241, and passes the detected detection signal to the load calculation unit 201. In Step S105, the load calculation unit 201 calculates the load's center of gravity from the received detection signal, and passes the calculated load's center of gravity to the movement control unit 203.
In Step S106, the movement control unit 203 determines whether the load's center of gravity received from the load calculation unit 201 is within the stable range LC set by the range setting unit 202. When the movement control unit 203 determines that the load's center of gravity is within the range, the process proceeds to Step S107, and sets the target speed of the moving carriage 110 according to the actual displacement amount ΔC corresponding to the calculated load's center of gravity. When the movement control unit 203 determines that the load's center of gravity is outside the range, the process proceeds to Step S108 where the movement control unit 203 calculates the displacement amount ΔCa to be applied from the calculated load's center of gravity, and sets the target speed of the moving carriage 110 according to the calculated displacement amount ΔCa as described using
In Step S109, the movement control unit 203 calculates a driving torque corresponding to the set target speed, and transmits a driving signal for outputting the driving torque to the driving wheel unit 210. The movement control unit 203 sequentially acquires the rotational speed of the driving wheels 121 from the driving wheel unit 210 and performs feedback control so that the difference between the rotational speed and the target speed becomes zero.
In Step S110, the arithmetic processing unit 200 determines whether the training attempt has ended. The training attempt ends, for example, when the task game 241 ends, a set period of time elapses, or a target item is achieved. When the arithmetic processing unit 200 determines that the training attempt has not ended, the process returns to Step S104 where the training attempt is continued, whereas when the arithmetic processing unit 200 determines that the training attempt has ended, the process proceeds to Step S111. In Step S111, the arithmetic processing unit 200 executes end processing to end a series of processing. The end processing is to display the final score on the display panel 170 and update history information of the training that has been carried out so far.
In the training apparatus 100 described above, the target speed is limited when it is determined that the load's center of gravity of the training person 900 has fallen outside the stable range during the training attempt as the safety control performed by the movement control unit 203. However, the safety control is not limited to this. Several examples that can be applied in combination with each other will be described below.
To be more specific, to determine the target speed, the movement control unit 203 docs not use the displacement amount ΔCpre corresponding to the load's center of gravity CPpre after the predicted predetermined time and instead uses a displacement amount at the point (T=t2) when the load's center of gravity is predicted to fall outside the stable range LC as a displacement amount ΔCa to be applied. Then, the movement control unit 203 determines the target speed VT using the relationship of
In the example of the safety control described above, the displacement amount ΔCa to be applied when the calculated load's center of gravity or the predicted load's center of gravity exceeds the stable range LC is calculated, and the target speed VT corresponding to the calculated or predicted load's center of gravity is determined. That is, such control is performed that does not stop the moving carriage 110 in order to continue the training attempt. However, when emphasis is put on safety more than continuation of the training attempt, the moving carriage 110 may be controlled to stop.
When the displacement amount ΔC deviates from the stable range LC and reaches ΔClim at the time T=t, the movement control unit 203 gradually decreases the target speed to 0 over a certain period of time tc from the target speed VTlim at that time. The certain period of time may be determined according to the magnitude of the target speed VTlim and the progress of the rehabilitation training of the training person 900. When such safety control is performed, the training attempt can be safely interrupted, and the training person 900 can be calmed down. The movement control unit 203 may resume the training attempt when a resume instruction is received from the training person 900 or when a certain period of time has elapsed.
The safety control is not limited to the speed limit of the moving carriage 110. When emphasis is put on continuation of the training attempt, a warning may be displayed first.
When the calculated load's center of gravity or the predicted load's center of gravity exceeds the stable range LC during a training attempt, as shown in the drawing, the movement control unit 203 displays a warning image indicating a warning “Warning!” superimposed on the graphic video image of the task game via the display control unit 230. When such notification control is performed as the safety control, the training person 900 can recognize the possibility of sudden movement variations and take preventive measures such as grasping the handrail. Note that, for example, attention may be gotten by a voice in addition to the warning display.
In the above-described embodiments, the moving carriage 110 has a structure that moves back and forth, and thus the movement control and task games corresponding to such a structure are employed. However, when the moving carriage 110 has a structure that also moves in the right-left direction, the movement control and task games corresponding to such a structure that moves back and forth and also left and right may be employed. In the above-described embodiments, the speed control is performed by calculating the displacement amount ΔC in the front-rear direction, which is the moving direction of the moving carriage 110, with respect to the two-dimensionally defined stable range LC. However, when the moving carriage 110 can also move in the right-left direction, the moving direction and the target speed may be determined according to a vector from the reference position RP to the load's center of gravity.
The program can be stored and provided to a computer using any type of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include any type of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer readable media include magnetic storage media (such as floppy disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives, etc.), optical magnetic storage media (e.g. magneto-optical disks), CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory), CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-R/W (compact disc rewritable), and semiconductor memories (such as mask ROM, PROM (programmable ROM), EPROM (erasable PROM), flash ROM, RAM (random access memory), etc.). The program may be provided to a compute) using any type of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electric signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. Transitory computer readable media can provide the program to a computer via a wired communication line (e.g. electric wires, and optical fibers) or a wireless communication line.
From the disclosure thus described, it will be obvious that the embodiments of the disclosure may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended for inclusion within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2019-047886 | Mar 2019 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9168420 | Berme | Oct 2015 | B1 |
| 10159872 | Sasaki | Dec 2018 | B2 |
| 20140015685 | Wei et al. | Jan 2014 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1825084 | Aug 2006 | CN |
| 101833287 | Sep 2010 | CN |
| 2015-100477 | Jun 2015 | JP |
| 2018-121911 | Aug 2018 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200289883 A1 | Sep 2020 | US |
